Community-led sanitation programme not progressing in Ketu South

The implementation of the Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) Programme in the Ketu-South Municipal area has been fraught with challenges thus reducing the interest of the beneficiaries in the programme.

The fall in the initial momentum has been attributed to transportation difficulties, which made the Environmental Health Officers unable to sustain community visits to educate the people and to oversee the construction of simple household toilets with local materials.

These issues emerged when a regional monitoring team visited communities in that municipal area to assess the progress of the programme and to discuss field observations with staff of the Environmental Health Unit and the Municipal Co-ordinating team overseeing its implementation.

Stakeholders have, therefore, recommended the use of motorbikes by the monitoring team fir their activities instead of the insufficient transport allowance paid to them.

The CLTS is a UNICEF and Ghana Government flagship programme started in 2009 to tackle Open Defecation in some endemic communities in the Volta, Central, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions under a Water and Hygiene (WASH) Programme.

Communities in sub-urban Aflao, for instance, had a lot of pits meant for household latrines, which indicated that they had been abandoned over a period.

The few household toilets were badly constructed and left open to house-flies, with some of them without hand washing devices.

In some communities some of the people admitted that open defecation still persisted.

Some of the people told the monitoring team that they were expecting assistance in the form of materials towards the construction of household toilets.

The situation, however, looked better in communities around Agbozume and Klikor.

Ms Lena Ahator, the District Coordinator of the School Health Programme, said schools in sub-urban Aflao had toilets and hand-washing devices but the communities tended to use them and in some cases broke into to use them when schools had closed.

She said some people resorted to open defecation in and around the schools when they could not break the locks to those school toilets.

Mr Aaron Amedzo, the Municipal Environmental Health Officer, said the situation was disappointing and said the team overseeing the implementation of the programme would go back to the basics and re-strategise.

He said the Municipality had initially targeted 25 communities for successful implementation in the CLTS within a relatively short period but had had to scale this number downwards because of the challenges.

Mr Amedzo said that notwithstanding, 50 per cent of its target had been achieved.

The meeting came to a consensus on the need for more education in order to change a negative pattern of behavior which had been part of the people over a long period.

This, they said, would be followed with strict enforcement of local bye-laws formulated by the communities themselves.

There should also be a name-and-shame and award systems to encourage and facilitate positive change.

It was suggested that at least three AG100 and DT120 type of motorbikes be made available for community visits instead of travel and transport allowances because of the high costs involved in hiring motor bikes.

Mr Anthony Tawiah, the Regional Director of the Department of Community Development who led the monitoring team said the aim was not to find fault with the municipal team but share ideas for better and quicker results.

He observed that household toilets did not seem to be the felt needs of the communities hence the lack of community enthusiasm.